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Viktor did not want to go to the Hallowe'en party, but Vi was adamant. Apparently, it was suffer three or four hours in a stuffy basement listening to terrible music and watching his classmates getting drunk and hitting on each other, or endure three or four days, weeks, or months of Vi calling him a coward and clucking at him like a chicken and loudly suggesting that he should be wearing a yellow shirt.
"Why?" he demanded. "Why do you even care if I go to this party?"
Vi slung her arm around his neck, which was awkward and uncomfortable because she was so much shorter than him, but also much stronger, so she was dragging him down to her level. "Listen, Cait--"
"Oh." Viktor rolled his eyes. "I should have guessed it would be something to do with your girlfriend."
"Cait has a friend," Vi said, grinning.
"Good for her."
"We think you two would hit it off."
Viktor rolled his eyes again, harder. "I do not need you to set up a play date for me."
"It's more for him," Vi admitted. "But seriously, you want this date. Listen. I am a lesbian. One hundred percent. That's it. Guys do nothing for me. Right?"
"So you have told me in the past." Viktor hooked a chair with his bad leg and dragged it over, because if she wasn't going to let go of his neck, he needed to sit down instead of standing stooped over.
"Right," she said. "And this guy? Just for a second, made me wonder if it might be more like ninety-nine point nine percent. He is fucking stacked."
"Vi, I am not really--"
"And," she said, grinning toothily, "Cait says he's the smartest person she knows."
Viktor scowled at Vi. "Caitlyn knows me."
"Yes," Vi agreed, and didn't say anything else.
"She thinks this person is smarter than me?"
"By the narrowest of margins," Vi assured him.
"He is hot and a genius," Viktor said doubtfully.
"And so are you; it's perfect!"
"I am not hot. I have never made you question your sexuality, even to a tenth degree," Viktor sniffed.
"Uh, no, because you got an entire one percent," Vi said.
Viktor frowned. "You never told me this. When was this?"
"Too late, I'm spoken for now," Vi sing-songed, and cackled when he shoved at her. "It was that last summer in high school when you were kind of trying out the genderqueer thing? Jinx dragged you over to Dad's for dinner and you were wearing this cute little sundress and your hair was pinned up and I almost popped a ladyboner."
"Gross," Viktor said, and shoved her again for good measure.
"Anyway!" Vi said, still laughing. "Hot and a genius, so totally your type. But he's got that sort of socially-awkward, never learned how to make friends thing going, and you're more reclusive than Bigfoot, so you guys are never going to meet if we don't help you out. He's going to be at the party, and Cait figured, you know, neutral ground, plenty of other people around just in case things go off the rails in a bad way. Which they won't," she rushed to add, "but for the comfort and safety of all involved, blah blah blah."
"And you and Cait want to introduce us at this party," Viktor said.
"Yeah! Look, you don't even have to stay that long. Just until we can get you guys to meet, and then, being the nerds you are, you can both leave and go do something nerdy. Or whatever." Her leering wink made her definition of whatever more than plain.
"It's not one of those stupid costume-required parties, is it?"
"No, but anyone not in a costume on Hallowe'en is a loser."
"I am okay with this," Viktor said, and reluctantly added the party information to his phone's calendar.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you just told me his name?" Jayce asked as he pulled on his costume's top. "Instead of just smart and gorgeous?"
"Vi and I decided not to do that," Cait said, her voice tinny over the phone's speaker. "It will add to the mystery! And the romance!"
Jayce rolled his eyes and tucked the shirt into his pants. "The confusion!" he threw back at her. "The embarrassment!"
"Those, too," she said, giggling.
Jayce sighed. "You're the worst little sister I've ever had. When are you guys getting to the party?"
"In like... fifteen minutes," Cait said, and raised her voice to yell, "Vi? Fifteen minutes?" Vi yelled something back that was indistinguishable. "Make that twenty minutes," Cait said. "Vi says we need to stop for gas on the way."
"Okay," Jayce said. "I'm just about to head out. I'll see you guys there."
"See you soon!" She hung up, and Jayce reached for the hat that was the final part of his costume.
The party was already going strong by the time Jayce arrived, the music almost loud enough to make his ears bleed. He wondered if Cait and Vi's mystery friend was already there. There were plenty of attractive guys, but he didn't know which one it might be. If it was even one of them. He shrugged and figured he'd wait for the girls to arrive and introduce them.
He made his way to the bar and let the bartender give him a bloody mary, because his only options were terrible beer or Hallowe'en-themed cocktails, and that was the only one that didn't sound like he would gag on all the sugar.
There was a girl from one of his classes on the other side of the room, wearing a cat-earred headband and a pinned-on tail, so he went over to say hello. She introduced him to her boyfriend (strike one good-looking guy off the list of possibilities) and they talked a little bit about the quiz they'd had earlier than week, and the boyfriend jumped in to mention another professor in the same department, and that conversation lasted long enough for Jayce's drink to have disappeared, so he wandered off again back to the bar.
It had been... definitely more than twenty minutes, he thought, and dug his phone out of his pocket. He found a long string of texts on his notifications and swiped into the chat with more than a little worry. Apparently some drunk asshole had driven right into the side of Cait's car at the gas station -- Vi had been inside the convenience store, buying beer, or she would've been hurt pretty badly, but luckily she had been inside, and no one had been hurt. But they were going to be late to the party, if they made it at all, because they had to wait for the tow truck to come get the car and then get a ride back to their apartment to get Vi's car, instead.
"Yike," he said aloud. But everyone was okay, and that was the important thing. He sent back a short string of emojis to Cait to let her know he'd seen the texts and was glad they were okay, and then stuffed his phone back into his pocket as he looked at the little "menu" tacked up behind the bar and wondered what the hell was in a Vampire's Kiss.
"Hey, I found you!" said someone, sliding up next to him at the bar.
Jayce looked over and saw a man, a little shorter than himself, attractive and well-groomed. He was wearing tight jeans and a t-shirt that simply read, "Costume." He had an eyebrow piercing on the right and a lip piercing on the left, and a swirl of tattoos peeked out of the collar and sleeves of the t-shirt.
"I guess you did," Jayce agreed. "Guess we don't need to worry about waiting for the girls, then."
"Definitely not," the man said. "Oh, hey, a spot on the couch opened up over there -- you want to go grab it for us, and I'll bring you a drink?"
"Yeah, sure," Jayce said, and he turned toward the couch with the warm, fuzzy feeling of excitement and hope in his stomach.
Viktor had been somewhat late to the party, but not late enough to get Vi's text before he'd already made his way through the doors and use it as an excuse to cancel.
He hadn't worn a costume, but in deference to the spirit of the holiday (and because he was really hoping that Vi was right about this friend of Caitlyn's) he'd taken a little extra time to apply some decorative eyeliner and painted his nails black.
The music made his head hurt before he'd even gotten past the carding station and gotten his hand stamped, so he stood near the door to look around. There were many costumes, but also many not wearing costumes, or only wearing the bare minimum of a "costume" -- a headband or a character tee.
A man in a rakish pirate outfit came in behind Viktor, then paused to give Viktor an obvious once-over. Viktor smirked at him slightly, wondering-- But then someone by the bar yelled a name, and the pirate blinked and looked over. He waved cheerfully and continued on into the room to join his friends.
Not the man Viktor was here to see.
Just as the pirate reached the bar, a man wearing a Where's Waldo costume caught Viktor's eye -- the red and white stripes made him pretty eye-catching. He was nodding along to something another man was saying, and then he broke away to head over toward the spot that had just opened up on the couch.
Viktor thought the bar might be a good place to start. A little social lubricant. And it might dull his senses enough to make the music less ear-splitting. He made his slow way across the room, dodging dancers and couples making out and people in "sexy" costumes of things that really should not ever be considered sexy. Except for the sexy lamp; that was actually funny, at least.
He reached the bar just as the bartender set two cups in front of the man who'd been talking to Waldo. The man glanced at Viktor, smiled and nodded, and shoved a hand into his pocket -- putting something away -- before balancing the two drinks in one hand.
...No. Not putting something away. Getting something out. Viktor's eyes narrowed and he watched as the man crossed the room toward Waldo on the couch. His left hand dropped something into one of the cups as he twisted to avoid a circle of overenthusiastic dancers.
Alarms screeched in Viktor's mind, and he turned away to follow without waiting for his drink, intending to confront the bastard, or at least warn Waldo.
He worked his way around the loosely-defined edges of the dance floor, but had to detour several times to avoid being run over. By the time he'd gotten anywhere near the couch, he saw Waldo already taking a large swig.
Fuck. Viktor gritted his teeth and pretended to trip over an invisible obstacle, stumbling and landing solidly on Waldo and -- not at all incidentally -- spilling most of the drink.
A glance up at the other man told Viktor everything: a flash of pure rage crossed the man's face.
Viktor bobbled the spilled cup and caught it, apologizing profusely to Waldo and the other person on the couch who'd gotten the drink spilled on them.
Waldo seemed like a really nice guy. After a startled burst of cursing when Viktor fell on him, Waldo caught Viktor to keep him from falling the rest of the way to the floor, then asked whether he was all right and carefully helped him stand back up.
Viktor apologized another few times before he glanced into the cup he'd caught. There was about a shot's worth of the drink left in the bottom. Good. He turned toward the asshole in the Costume tee. "I'm wearing that fun nail polish that changes colors in the presence of the most common rape drugs," he growled, low. "What do you think would happen if I stuck a finger in what's left of this drink?"
The asshole went pale. "Hey, man, it's not like that. Just a little something to help relax--"
"Get the fuck out of my face," Viktor snarled. It looked like the prick might continue to argue, so Viktor pulled out his phone and flipped to the camera app. By the time he'd gotten it up, the douchebag was long gone.
Viktor sighed and looked back down at Waldo. "How much of this did you drink?"
Waldo blinked at him. "I don't know. Like... a quarter? a third? It's fine, really, I didn't even like it, you don't need to replace it or anything."
"Stay here," Viktor said. "I will get you some water." He went back to the bar and shoved the mostly-empty cup at the bartender. "The person in the Costume tee," he said, "do you know him?"
The bartender wobbled her hand. "Kind of."
"I saw him put something in this and give it to the man in the Waldo costume," Viktor said. "Please set this aside as possible evidence, if he wishes to report it."
The bartender sighed and reached into a shelf behind the bar. She pulled out what looked like a strip of litmus paper and dropped it into the cup. Viktor was pleased; he'd been absolutely bluffing about his nail polish, but it seemed the bartender had the real deal.
She swirled it around and pulled it back out. The paper had turned luridly bright orange. "Yeah, he doctored this," she said. "I'll set this aside, but I'm required to report it."
"Good," Viktor said. "He should not have the opportunity to do this to anyone else."
She got Viktor's contact information from him in case campus security or the police wanted a statement, and promised, "I'll handle it. Should I call an ambulance?"
Viktor glanced back toward Waldo, who was still sitting there, upright but beginning to look a bit flushed. "I don't think so," Viktor said. "He didn't drink much. I will keep an eye on him and call emergency services if needed."
Viktor made his slow way back over to the couch, a water bottle in hand. "Would you like to get some fresh air?" he asked.
Waldo thought about it, then nodded. He blinked, and while his eyes were still tracking Viktor, his eyelids were not quite coordinated. Yeah, he'd definitely swallowed at least some of whatever it had been in the cup.
"Come on," Viktor said. He pulled the man upright, and didn't let go of his arm. "This way."
Walking out of the hot, noisy basement into the cool and quiet of an autumn night was such a shift that it was briefly disorienting. Viktor's ears were ringing in the silence, and everything seemed muffled. Waldo, reeling with whatever he'd been dosed with, actually stumbled a little, and then fell, and wound up sitting on the grass.
"I don't feel... right," he said. He sounded lost and confused and hurt. He pulled off the ridiculous striped hat he was wearing, and scrubbed his hand clumsily over his hair.
"I know," Viktor said gently. He bent down a little, afraid that if he sat on the ground he wouldn't be able to stand up again. "What is your name? I cannot keep calling you Waldo in my head."
"I'm Jayce." He looked up, and his pupils were huge despite the yard being fairly well-lit, so much that Viktor could not truly see the color of his eyes. "I think... I think someone maybe drugged me."
"Yes," Viktor agreed. "You are lucky that you did not take the full dose, but you are still likely to have a rough couple of hours."
Jayce sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I can't... feel my fingers. I'm supposed to be meeting someone."
"A friend? Girlfriend? I can go find them, if you can tell me what they look like," Viktor offered.
Jayce shook his head and then groaned and grabbed at his skull as if he could stop the world from spinning. "Not... someone I. A new. Person?"
A sinking suspicion curled around Viktor's gut. "You were here to meet someone new? With your friend Caitlyn, perhaps?"
"Yeah." Jayce flopped back onto the grass, panting. "You know Cait? Why's it so hot?"
"You've been roofied," Viktor reminded him. "I think I am the person you were meant to meet."
"Oh." Jayce blinked a few more times, staring up at Viktor. "Cait was right. You're gorgeous."
Viktor couldn't help a small smile. "Thank you, but you are seeing with, eh, compromised eyes. You may feel differently when it has left your system."
"Who are you?" Jayce squinted at him.
"My name is Viktor. I am Caitlyn's friend."
"Cait is the best," Jayce announced.
"She will be glad to know you appreciate her. Can you sit up?" Viktor wondered.
"Not sure. I don't feel... right."
"I know," Viktor soothed. "But you will feel better, perhaps, with some water." He opened the water bottle and held it out, temptingly.
"Oh, water, yeah," Jayce said. He tried to reach it without sitting up, but couldn't. "I feel all... hot. Like 'm burning up inside."
"Sit up, then, and have some water," Viktor coaxed.
"Not that kind of hot," Jayce mumbled, but he did as Viktor asked, and drank thirstily. "You wanna go back to my room?"
"I do not think that would be a good idea, right now," Viktor said gently. "But we can go sit on that bench, over there, if you would like." He pointed, and Jayce followed his finger slowly.
"Okay."
Slowly, Viktor managed to coax Jayce back to his feet and lead him over to the bench. Jayce seemed to be fading in and out of awareness somewhat, so if Viktor timed a suggestion for when he was at his most lucid, he would usually listen.
After about fifteen minutes of alternating sympathetic reassurance and gentle refusal to take Jayce back to one of their rooms, Jayce decided to stretch out on the bench and put his head in Viktor's lap. It was... disconcerting, but not unpleasant.
Viktor hesitated briefly, then began to run his fingers through Jayce's hair, lightly scratching across the scalp, and Jayce arched into it like a cat.
"That feels so nice," he mumbled. "Don't stop?"
"I won't," Viktor promised with a helpless smile.
"Why was that guy such a dick?" Jayce wondered. "He seemed so nice, if he'd just talked to me for a while I'd probably have slept with him without the..." He waved a hand to indicate, presumably, the drug. Then he made a face and twisted to look up at Viktor. "That sounded kinda slutty. I'm not actually a slut."
"I do not particularly care if you are," Viktor said.
"It's just I thought he was the guy I came to meet," Jayce continued, heedless. "He said hey I found you."
"Possibly because you are dressed like Where's Waldo," Viktor suggested.
"...Oh. Yeah. Wow. You're smart. Cait said you were smart." Viktor couldn't hold back a chuckle, and Jayce sighed. "Yeah, I know, I'm not. Right now. I'm. My brain is."
"It is all right," Viktor assured him, and scratched through his hair again. "I do not hold this against you. This was not your fault."
"I mean, kinda is," Jayce mumbled. "Should know better'n take drinks from. Assholes. Strangers. Stranger assholes."
"But you thought he was someone who had been vetted by your friends," Viktor reminded him, still stroking through his hair. "He took advantage of that. When you are feeling better, we can start over, perhaps. If you would like that."
Jayce hummed and closed his eyes, and for a minute, Viktor thought he'd dozed off. But then he said, "I'm gonna be so embarrassed when this wears off, I bet. I don't even know your name."
Viktor smiled, because he'd told Jayce his name several times, already. "It's Viktor."